Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 356 - 355: New Sanctuary

Seeing Priest Wright standing at the door, Gawain’s first reaction was surprise—this priest rarely came to see him.

Gawain usually paid a bit of attention to Wright’s activities since he was the only missionary in the territory, essentially an extension of the Church of the Holy Light within the Cecil lands. Although there seemed to be something off about this priest’s demeanor, his connection with the Church of the Holy Light alone warranted Gawain’s attention. However, after a period of observation, he discovered that Mr. Wright was truly someone who adhered to the classical priestly rules—most of his daily activities revolved around the church: praying in the morning, blessing the Holy Water, hosting congregants who came to pray, distributing sweet buns (though it seemed few were handed out), and preaching in the city in the afternoon. His method of preaching was often helping with chores in various households while extolling the benefits of being close to the Holy Light, such as relief from back pain and leg aches. Over some months, he managed to develop a group of followers...

Beyond this, the priest had no other activities. Of the few times he left the city, once was reportedly to help at a worksite where someone got injured; the other times were when he heard the worker’s canteen wanted to improve meals, so he went to the western forest and hunted down over a dozen bears—during those days, a wild tale circulated in the lumberjack town about a giant roaming the forest, chasing bears all over...

Recalling the exploits of this priest, Gawain couldn’t help but twitch his mouth, but having just indulged in satellite VR to an excess, he was now in a state where he felt like vomiting at any moment. His expression quickly turned exceptionally serious (mainly because without a somber expression, he might just throw up). He looked at Wright and asked lightly: "Mr. Wright, what brings you to me?"

Wright had no idea why Gawain’s expression was so severe. He first thought of the refugees taken in not long ago, and the news likely already reaching the leader’s ears about the Church of the Holy Light in the center of the mainland squeezing out believers of Otherworldly Gods. So he linked these matters with his own identity and proactively said: "Sir Byron, I’m not here to ask you to expel those innocents."

Gawain had no clue where that came from: "Huh?"

Wright looked serious: "Your expression is so grave, aren’t you pondering the persecution of those Otherworldly God believers?"

Gawain thought he looked severe because he was nauseous from too much VR, what did it have to do with the persecution of the Otherworldly God believers—then he quickly realized, bending his mouth to force a slight smile, and looked at Wright with curious interest: "You mean those Blood God and Shadow Followers who fled from the Plains of the Holy Spirits... you mentioned ’persecution’ just now, seems you’re not entirely in agreement with the actions of your fellow church members in the Plains of the Holy Spirits?"

"I...still can’t believe they’ve become so fanatical," Wright’s face showed a distressed expression, his fist as large as a cooking pot slowly clenching, "I’ve listened to the experiences described by those refugees, the intuition granted by the Holy Light tells me they’re honest, but... I’m still in doubt."

"I heard that with the improvement in Divine Arts, the new generation of clergymen have become more adept at harnessing the power of the Holy Light, causing the old method of strict adherence to classical virtues to seek affinity with the Holy Light to become obsolete, transforming the Holy Light from a faith into a skill—so I’m not at all surprised by the corruption speed of the clergymen in the most prosperous, and prone to decay, center of the mainland," Gawain leaned back against the chair, looking at Wright with profound eyes, "Of course, I also understand your hesitations and doubts, after all, you and they received the same Holy Light teachings, but you’re completely different from them."

Wright seemed to hesitate, but under Gawain’s gaze, he still spoke of his goal: "Sir, I wish to go back and see for myself."

"I guessed as much," Gawain said lightly, "So, who will you leave your church to manage?"

"That’s precisely what I came to discuss with you," Wright nodded, "I promised those refugees they could seek help at the church anytime, but now I can’t resist wanting to return to the Plains of the Holy Spirits to see for myself, so I hope you can assign someone to temporarily manage the church—no need to perform any rituals, just keep the church open, and have someone to clean, so the believers have a place to pray. Moreover, I’ve left enough talismans and Holy Water in the church, and I’ll return before these supplies run out."

Then, the priest solemnly saluted Gawain: "I hope you can grant my bold requests."

Seeing the earnest Wright, Gawain couldn’t help but smile lightly with a nod: "The church’s operation is also part of the territory’s affairs. Your trust in letting the church be managed by the Administrative Office staff shows your adaptation to the Cecil laws. I agree; you may leave with peace of mind."

Wright bowed his head deeply: "Thank you for your understanding."

Watching the only priest in the city, whose demeanor quite suited his taste, Gawain couldn’t help but ask: "When do you plan to leave? Do you need any escort or other assistance?"

"Thank you for your generosity, I’ll depart in the next two days, but I don’t need assistance," Wright shook his head, "I came here on my own and can return the same way, and the congregation has helped pool the travel expenses for me; I can hitch a ride with a merchant caravan."

Gawain casually pulled out a blank document from a stack beside him, quickly wrote some words on it, then affixed the Duke Cecil’s seal, saying as he did: "Go to the commercial district and find the official there, a caravan will be departing for the Plains of the Holy Spirits the day after tomorrow, it can give you a lift. This is your travel document."

After taking the document, Wright bowed to show his gratitude and prepared to take his leave, but just before he stepped out, Gawain suddenly called him back.

"The Cecil lands will accept any believers of various religions who are proven innocent and persecuted," Gawain looked into Wright’s eyes, "as long as they are willing to abide by the Cecil lands’ regulations on faith and follow the rules of this land, even those exiled can find sanctuary here. Can you accept this?"

Wright almost didn’t hesitate: "It is only right—protecting the innocent is also one of the tenets of the Holy Light."

But immediately, the priest showed a somewhat worried expression: "But, my lord... you must know, once you openly and on a large scale accept those exiles, it will greatly provoke the Church of the Holy Light. Although you have already accepted a small group of refugees, that can still be glossed over as an influx of displaced people, but a large-scale acceptance of exiles is a completely different matter."

"Of course I know," Gawain said, his expression unchanged (the VR aftereffects gradually improving), "but I don’t believe Cecil needs anyone’s permission to accept refugees. Moreover, I don’t believe those priests who expelled the refugees would chase them all the way from the Plains of the Holy Spirits unless those refugees are indeed the so-called ’followers of the Evil God’—the reason why those refugees were exiled is something those priests who collect indulgence money know perfectly well."

"Since you already have a plan, I will say no more." Wright looked at Gawain’s expression, swallowed all words of persuasion, respectfully performed a deep bow in the manner of a Holy Light believer, and turned to leave the study.

And it was only after Wright left that Amber’s figure gradually appeared near the window, the half-elf lady raising her tone as she said, "Though he’s a believer in the Holy Light... this Wright is quite interesting."

Gawain had sensed Amber’s presence earlier, so he wasn’t surprised; he just turned his head slightly to glance at the half-elf: "Have you set everything in place?"

"Yes, and I’ve sealed the treasury door according to containment rules," Amber waved her hand, "By the way, what do you think about the recent changes in the Church of the Holy Light?"

"On the surface, it seems like they’ve been provoked by the activities of evil cult followers, leading to drastic ’purification’ actions, but in reality, I think this is just a well-founded and premeditated expansion and takeover," Gawain snorted softly, "Ever since the Sacred Alliance was established, the various religions have maintained peace for seven hundred years, but not everyone wants it to remain peaceful—moreover, for religions composed of mortals, eternal peace is also unlikely. Each church wants to develop, to expand its influence, to earn glory for its gods, but the potential followers and lands available for proselytizing are limited, conflicts are inevitable. I believe each religion secretly harbors a desire to become the dominant power under the heavens, only restrained by the Sacred Alliance, leaving them unable to make moves. But if there is an opportunity—"

"So the Church of the Holy Light couldn’t hold back," Amber pouted, "It’s a straightforward process. But honestly, aren’t you afraid of provoking those troublesome priests? They’re really difficult to deal with!"

Gawain smiled slightly, got up from behind the desk, and slowly walked to the southern border map hanging on the study wall.

"Provoking them is fine, this is the southern borders—the Cecil Clan may have declined, but before the decline, they operated on this land for six hundred years. The orders I left behind stated that the church could not surpass royal authority. Although my descendants were disappointing and ruined the family, at least they executed this decree well; this southern land is not under the dominion of the Church of the Holy Light—nor under any church’s dominion!"

Amber blinked and stared at Gawain for a few seconds before muttering, "So besides the drunken nonsense you spouted with the King back then, you also left some reliable ancestral instructions... But how did you think to leave such a decree back then? Did you foresee the threat posed by church expansions at the time?"

"I... wasn’t that prescient back then," Gawain smiled slightly, but his mind couldn’t help recalling the scenes he saw in the dream lantern, with leaders of major religions donning spacesuits to embark on a quest to find the kingdom of God, and the subsequent fall of the Holy Spirit School Druids, Church of Dreams, and Church of Storms into the Three Great Dark Sects, culminating with Selena Gerfen, already a leader of evil cults. He sighed lightly, "If you’d witnessed the turmoil caused by the sudden fall of three dark sects seven hundred years ago, you’d understand why our generation of kings and leaders were so wary of uncontrolled church militaries... It’s a pity, today, seven hundred years later, royal authority hasn’t progressed much, while the power of each church grows stronger by the day—even the evil cults grow stronger by the day."

Amber stood silently by Gawain’s side for a while and also sighed, "Ah..."

"Why are you sighing too?"

"How would I know—I’m just sighing along with you."

"..."

Not long after this conversation, as merchants from the Cecil Chamber of Commerce traveled everywhere and Intelligence Agency operatives moved in secrecy, a new message quietly began to spread.

It first circulated within the southern borders, then spread northward, passed from person to person among those displaced by indulgence money, heresy trials, and conversion campaigns:

Cecil is the "New Sanctuary"...